LA Fitness personal trainer charges disputed

Member says she never signed up for instruction at Highland Park gym

May 13, 2014|Jon Yates | What's Your Problem?

Judy Tatar, seen at her Wilmette home, said she asked the gym for a copy of the contract she supposedly signed for personal training. Each time she called, she was told she had to speak to someone else, she said. (Alex Garcia, Chicago Tribune)

Judy Tatar joined the LA Fitness in Highland Park last July, paying a $99 initiation fee and $59.98 for two months of membership dues.

According to the contract she signed July 5, she was to have $29.99 per month withdrawn from her checking account.

The Wilmette resident thought it was a pretty good deal.

It wasn't until September that she took a closer look at her bank account. She saw that on July 18, LA Fitness took out an additional $190. In August, in addition to her regular monthly fee, the fitness center withdrew an extra $140. It did the same again in September.

Confused, Tatar called the gym.

"They said, 'This is for a trainer,'" Tatar said. "I said, 'I never signed up for a trainer.'"

Tatar said she asked the gym for a copy of the contract she supposedly signed for personal training. Each time she called, she was told she had to speak to someone else, she said.

With the personal trainer charges continuing to be withdrawn from her bank account, Tatar said she asked to speak to someone at LA Fitness' corporate headquarters. She said she was given an address in California and was told the headquarters does not correspond by email.

"I did write to member services in California," Tatar said. "But by December, and several phone calls later, (I) received no help to resolve this matter."

After another call, in January, Tatar received the copy of her contract for training services, dated July 17. It shows she paid a $50 "processing fee" and agreed to pay $35 a week for 52 weeks. In all, the contract required her to pay $1,870 for one year of personal training sessions.

The name "Judy Tatar" was signed at the bottom of the contract, but she swears it's not her signature.

"I went back to the Highland Park center to show them the two different signatures," Tatar said. "I was then told, 'I don't know what to tell you.'"

Starting in late February, Tatar began calling LA Fitness daily, she said. Unable to get the gym to refund what she had paid for personal training, or cancel the contract, Tatar had her bank stop allowing the monthly $140 withdrawals.

By then, she had already paid $1,120 for a personal trainer she said she never signed up for or used. With the $50 processing fee she paid in July, Tatar said she is owed $1,170.

With the issue still unresolved in late April, she emailed "What's Your Problem?"

Tatar said she does not dispute the contract requiring her to pay $29.99 a month for her gym membership, but she steadfastly maintains that the personal training charges are bogus.

"I would like to quit LA Fitness altogether, as I have not returned since this has happened," she said. "I am afraid if I terminated my $29.99-a-month contract, I would not be able to at least try to claim what is owed me."

She said she did not participate in a single personal training session.

"Absolutely never," she said. "If I had signed up, I'd probably go. I had no knowledge of it until I saw what was coming out of my bank."

The Problem Solver called the LA Fitness facility in Highland Park, leaving three messages with the person who answered the phone, explaining that a column about Tatar would run within days. No one from the Highland Park facility returned those calls.

The Problem Solver also reached out to LA Fitness' corporate offices. On Monday, spokeswoman Jill Greuling emailed to say the company believes Tatar signed up for a personal trainer but then got cold feet.

Greuling said LA Fitness trains its salespeople to go over the training agreements with a checklist, point by point.

"While there is no signature line for that, Mrs. Tatar's signature appears on that document as well as the other two," Greuling said. "I compared the signatures on all three documents, and in my opinion, they match."

The spokeswoman said LA Fitness has no record of Tatar calling about the personal trainer contract until Feb. 23.

"We talked to her on February 24th, 28th, and the 4th of March," Greuling said. "During one of those conversations Mrs. Tatar verified that she signed the agreement for training but does not recall 'wanting' the membership."

It was only later, Greuling said, that Tatar's husband called to say his wife had not signed a contract.

"I was not able to speak to the employee who sold Mrs. Tatar the membership, but he was a trusted manager with us for two years," Greuling said. "I have no record of any complaints about him while employed with us."

Greuling said that if LA Fitness believed Tatar hadn't signed the personal trainer contract, LA Fitness would refund all of her money.

"But I don't accept that, based on what I see and what she said," Greuling said. "I believe Mrs. Tatar changed her mind as the months went by and she wasn't using the membership."

Greuling said the company would not refund Tatar's money but still would like for her to be happy going forward.

"If she just decided she does not want the membership, I understand," said Grueling, who added that LA Fitness canceled the personal training contract on March 14. "We are not billing her and not pursuing it."